Gibson: Don't step on liberties

Published 12:43 am, Thursday, February 10, 2011

ALBANY -- Freshman Rep. Chris Gibson bucked his House Republican leadership to vote against extending provisions of the USA Patriot Act, a post-9/11 measure that gave intelligence and law enforcement agencies broad new powers to monitor suspected terrorists.

The bill was supported by more than a majority of members, but failed to gain the support of two-thirds of the House in a procedural vote. It would have allowed the FBI to continue "roving" wiretaps that follow people, not phone lines, given officials access "any tangible items" -- including library records -- generated during surveillance and allowed the monitoring of "lone wolf" targets not affiliated with an specific terrorist group.

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"I have long been critical of the Patriot Act, because I believe that in the process of defending our liberties, we should not step on them. We must stay within the confines of the Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment," said Gibson, a Kinderhook Republican who represents the 10-county 20th Congressional District.

"Going forward, the Patriot Act must be revised to ensure U.S. citizens are protected by our constitutional rights," Gibson said. "The executive branch must be checked, and I believe the provisions of this act must fall within the jurisdiction of the (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance) court and the process for obtaining warrants should comply with the Constitution."

Gibson, a retired Army colonel , was critical of the country's response to the 2001 terrorist attacks, saying an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy -- the Department of Homeland Security -- was created in the wake of the attacks.

He repeated his position Wednesday: "I also strongly believe that our intelligence agencies and defense establishment could benefit from a reorganization to consolidate headquarters and streamline procedures to better ensure that information on potential threats is processed quickly, appropriately, and effectively."

Gibson sided with seven other GOP freshmen and three members of the newly formed Tea Party Caucus in his vote. Many progressive Democrats, long critical of the Patriot Act, also voted no.